Mr. Toyoda, You DO NOT Owe Me an Apology !

Agreed i have owned 6 Toyota, Lexus cars and am very pleased and not needing an aplolgy. if any apology is due me it is from GM for numerous infractions from their less than acceptable cars that i owned over the years that they never did get fixed!

 

Agreed!!

 

Well this is a nice little Toyota Love Fest isn't it?

Weeks ago, I said the "Asian" cultural approach of apologizing and being shamed by perceived failure had limits as to how well it would play with Americans. I think we've reached that limit.

There is a time to move on from apologizing.

But I'd accept Toyoda's apology. It's kind of a slap in his face not to.

This isn't a knock on your door with a boquet of Flowers and a Fruit Basket apology. This is Mr. Toyoda acknowledging that mistakes have been made, and they have, and it's him apologizing for the damage it's done to his name and his brand.

Great if you personally feel he doesn't owe you an apology but it is his personal reaction to the events that gives me the greatest hope that Toyota will recover and improve.

When he is apologizing, he's apologizing to everyone. Not just "you". He's apologizing to vendors, suppliers, factory workers and everyone affected by the shutdown. He's apologizing to Dealerships that suddenly had inventory on the lot's they couldn't even legally sell. The same dealerships that are now swamped with dealing with the recall effort. He is apologizing to owners that now have to take time to deal with a recall and at least have the "worry" planted in their minds that something needs to be done about accelerator pedals.

Does he owe any single person a singular apology...NO that's almost childish.

Is it appropriate that he apologize to where Toyota as a company has been led under his guidance? Probably, even though many of the event's and realities demonstrate a company wide failure, the buck stops at the top, and Toyoda is the top.

I feel there is a time to move on from apology and get back to business, and I hope the media and Toyota allow that to happen.

Myself and my family have owned several Toyotas, would I be looking for any personal apology? No. But neither would I deny Mr. Toyoda the opportunity to speak for his company and do what I think is the correct thing.

There is a difference between "Does he owe me an apology?" and "Should he give a representative apology for the immediate events that Toyota has been involved. Toyoda can admit mistakes have been made, can we?

For me, I accept his apology graciously and say....Get back to work.